Getting an A on an English Paper
Jack Lynch,
Rutgers University – Newark
Good Theses
My discussion of theses provides some general advice and some brief examples of good and bad theses. Here's some more detailed analysis of good theses.
- Showing that a book claims to do one thing while actually
doing another — that's English-paper gold. That's because
such theses almost always have to be both specific and controversial. For example:
- “Many critics have called the novel misogynistic, but the last chapter suggests it is more feminist than usually assumed.” (Be careful, though, about saying what “many critics” have “usually” said: you can't make these things up. Back it up with research into what real critics have actually said about it.)
- “Although the religious tone in the poem suggests a devout belief in God, the speaker is in fact experiencing a crisis of faith.”
- Another thing that makes English professors jump for joy: close attention to language. Don't
be content with mere plot summary.
Look instead at the exact words the author uses, and try to base
your argument on them. Some good models:
- “When the work turns to questions of sexuality, the diction becomes much more Latinate and scientific, suggesting the character is uncomfortable with more blunt descriptions of sex.”
- “In the last stanza, the poem suddenly switches from the third person to the first, signaling more personal involvement.”
- “Where we would expect verbs of being and the passive voice, the author gives us a series of powerful active verbs, and assigns agency to the inanimate objects she describes, making the rocks and trees not mere background but active characters in the story.”
Getting an A on an English Paper
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